NTSC / PAL / UNIVERSAL

[JoelMe]

I am under the impression that DVD's can be burned in one of 3 formats: NTSC or PAL (depending on which country), or UNIVERSAL (good for anywhere). Is that correct?

I am sending a DVD to eastern Europe (from US) and I was told it should be in Universal format. Is there a way to burn this with VS Pro X4? If not, does anyone know how I can get what I need?

- Joel

[BrianCee]

If only !!! - - no such thing as a universal video format - video for putting on a DVD only comes in NTSC or PAL - which is why those are the only formats which VideoStudio provides.

There is a list here :- http://www.bloodyisland.co.uk/territories.html which will help you decide what you need for whichever country you are sending to.

[Ken Berry]

I also think you may be confusing formats with DVD regions. There are of course several DVD regions around the world. Here in Australia/New Zealand, for instance, we are in region 4. In theory, most stand-alone DVD players are locked to only play DVDs from their region, but there are of course various hacks to get around that on the hardware. But there are also region-free discs which can be played on any DVD player, as long as it is in the correct format. As far as I am aware, Video Studio produces region-free discs, but as Brian has just said, they have to be in either PAL or NTSC format.

To further complicate matters, most stand-alone PAL DVD players appear to have no difficulty in playing NTSC DVDs. But unfortunately, the reverse does not seem to be true i.e. NTSC players usually have difficulty playing PAL discs... though the situation may have changed in recent years. But since you are sending an NTSC DVD to eastern Europe to be played on a PAL player, then there should be no trouble in simply sending the NTSC original. Then your family or friends at the other end can tell you if it worked or not.

While VS set up in a PAL country can produce NTSC DVDs, and VS in an NTSC country can also produce PAL DVDs, it is not a program designed for this and the results are usually not particularly good. If you think about it, an NTSC DVD plasys at 29.97 frames per second, and has a frame size of 720 x 480 pixels. A PAL DVD, on the other hand, plays at 25 frames per second and has a frame size of 720 x 576 pixels. So if you were using NTSC video but making a PAL DVD, the program has to literally throw away 4.97 frames ever second, and 96 new pixels have to be invented. This is done by simply duplicating some of the existing pixels. But the fewer frames per second and invented pixels will often result in slightly jerky and unclear video. There are of course programs out there which do an excellent job in converting NTSC to PAL and vice versa (e.g. Canopus ProCoder), but they are expensive.

So again I can only suggest you try sending your NTSC DVD to Europe and see if it plays OK. And only if it doesn't do you have to worry about converting it to PAL.

[skier-hughes]

whether it is in PAL or NTSC it will play on a computer, so the recipient could always use this to watch it.

[JoelMe]

It would be easy if the recipient were a friend or relative. But this is for a film festival, in Slovakia.

They say: "DVD video’s must be playable at universal DVD players!"

No, their English is not great, but I am trying to give what they want.

- Joel

[OldNick]

PMFJI, but this sounds like it may relate to my problem.

Ken Berry, you talk of of VS being able to produce an NTSC video in a PAL country. I also live in Oz, so I get a pal-setup VS. How do you make it produce NTSC, please? It's not that I want to, but I am getting "hazing" of any are that is moving onscreen, and I am wondering if it's the PAL/NTSC issue you talk of.

I am just looking at _any_ possible reason for this at present. it is not just an issue with VS, I have to admit.

So is producing an NTSC video an easy , "instant" thing, or is it not likely to happen by accident?

Thanks for any help

Nick

[Ken Berry]

It's not something that can happen by accident. Once you have done your editing and moved into the burning module, you have to click on the first of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen. Then choose "Disc Template Manager". Up in the top left, you can then change from PAL/SECAM to NTSC and all the properties used in the burning will change.

In the Edit phase, you can also change things. Select Settings > Project Properties > Edit > Compression, and again in that tab, at the top, you can select between NTSC and PAL.

[skier-hughes]

It would be easy if the recipient were a friend or relative. But this is for a film festival, in Slovakia.

They say: "DVD video’s must be playable at universal DVD players!"

No, their English is not great, but I am trying to give what they want.

- Joel

I expect they mean "ANY" dvd player.

If it is for a film festival, you may want to get it properly converted using a comapny that uses a standards convertor.
VS will change it from 720x480 to 720x576 and also from 29.97fps to 25fps, but won't do anything about the colour carrying, black burst, chrominance, luminance which are all handled in a different way in the two formats.